Store-service apparatus.



E. G. GIPE. STORE SERVIGE APPARATUS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Spt. 3,1912.

m m mflflfl APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12, 1909.

QM mm B. G. GIPE.

STORE SERVICE APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 12, 1909.

1,037,236. r Patented Sept. 3,1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

5 W A I A will AI COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50-. WAsmNu'wN. D. C."

EMANUEL o. GIPE, or rronolv'ro, oNTAnIo, CANADA.

STORE-SEBVICE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 12, 1909.

Patented Sept. 3, 1912.

Serial No. 527,682.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMANUEL C. GIPE, acitizen of the United States, residing at T0- ronto, in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Store Service Apparatus, of which the following is a description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which corresponding letters of reference in the different figures indicate like parts.

My invention relates to that class of storeservice apparatus in which a wheeled car is mounted upon a double wire-way and propelled thereon a result of spreading the wires behind it to act against opposing wheels. In this type of device it has heretofore been customary to attach the opposing wires to opposite ends of pivoted levers in such a way that when the wires were together at one end of the way they were separated at the other. This feature is subject to the objection, among others, that considerable skill is required to properly propel the car. If the levers are insufficiently opened at the sending end they will not be wholly closed at the other and the car will thereby be prevented from reaching its destination. This is not only annoying, but considerable time and trouble is often expended in returning the car. Other objections are that the car, owing to the 1nan-- nor of connecting the levers, is caused to wabble while upon the way, and upon grade lines is liable to be returned with such force that the impact at the end is excessive.

The object of my invention is to overcome these objections by constructing a system in which the wires are normally closed, providing means for preventing the wabbling of the car, for cushioning it upon its return upon grade-lines, for properly holding the car at the station and for maintaining the proper relation between the wheels and the wires.

To these ends, my invention consists in the combination of elements hereinafter more particularly described and definitely pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a store-service apparatus embodying the features of my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the actuating elements, showing means for keeping them in alinement; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a modified construction showing the parts at the sending station of a grade-line with means for cushioning the return of the car; Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view of the actuating lever and bar, a portion being sectioned to show the spring-controlled plunger for maintaining the wires in proper relation to the wheels; a locking mechanism for use upon grade lines being also shown in connection with the vertical guide used. in both styles; Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of the rear end of the lever and bar as they would appear normally, the bar being shown partially in section to display the means for temporarily locking the two apart; Fig. 6 is a like View showing said parts as they would appear when locked apart; Fig. 7 is a plan view taken upon the line 7-, Fig. 5, the locking dog being shown in a normal position; Fig. 8 is a like view in which the locking dog is shown in a locking position; Fig. 9 is a plan view showing a portion of a car together with the buffer and catchmechanism, and Fig. lOisa sectional view taken upon the line 10--, Fig. 6, viewed in the direction of'the arrow there shown.

Referring to the drawings, 1' and 2, Fig. 1, represent the usual hangers at the out and in stations, or the sending and receiving ends respectively of a carrier line, which are supported in any approved way by means of anchor lines 2 To the lower end of each hanger is jointedly secured a fitting 3 having bifurcated extensions be tween which is pivoted at 4, alever 5. Clevises 6, 7, are jointedly attached to the short arms of said levers and are connected by means of a taut wire 8, a winch and ratchet of well known form being pro vided in the clevis 6 for tightening the wire. Each of the levers 5 is pivoted between the middle and forward end as shown. I have found in practice that the most satisfactory point at which to place said pivot is from about one-quarter to about one-third of the length of the lever from the forward end, although I do not wish to be limited to any exact point. Jointedly connected at 9 to the outer end of each of the levers 5, is a bar 10, which is bent upwardly at its rear end, as shown at 11, to enable the faces of the two to lie parallel to each other, as shown. The forward ends of the bars 10 are provided with clevises 12 and 13 corre sponding to the clevises 6 and 7, which serve as anchorages for a wire 14:. A car 15 having two wheels 16 above the wire 8 and like wheels 17 below the wire 14, arranged in the usual manner, is mounted upon said wires.

Formed upon each of the bars 10 near its forward end, is a depending arm 18 having.

ceive one end of the car 15 between them.

Yielding spring controlled catches 28 are pivoted at 29 to the body of the car and are arranged to move out-ward therefrom as shown. The inner ends of the wings 27 are adapted to form shoulders 30, to engage said catches when the car is at the sta tion. When it is desired to forward the car itv may be accomplished by pulling downwardly upon the propelling bar which will result in moving the shoulders likewise, while the car remains stationary, thereby separating the shoulders from the catches to release the car which is forwarded as a result of the continuation of the described movement. A plunger-head 31, Fig. 9, preferably formed from compressed fiber or other similar material, is mounted upon the forward end of a pin 32 supported in a slidable bearing in the head. A spring 33 serves to push the plunger forward to hold the catches against the shoulders 30 for the pur pose of preventing rattling. In order to guide the movement of the bar 10 in a verti cal plane so as to insure erect propulsion of the car, I provide the following means.

Formed upon the lever 5, near its rear end, is a downwardly and rearwardly curved arm 34, which passes loosely through a curved opening 35 in the bar 10. Shields 36, which are integral with said bar, form the side walls of the opening 35 and are continued above and below the bar, the upper extensions being adapted to engage the sides of the lever 5 so as to be in contact therewith and the arm 34 so as to prevent any lateral movement of the bar 10 when separated from the lever. This feature so far as described, is adapted for use upon horizontal lines as shown in Fig. 1, but for grade lines, I provide means for temporarily holding the levers apart as shown in Fig. 3.

Pivoted in a bore in the bar 10 forward of the opening 35, is a stud 37. having an arm 38 adapted to engage a shoulder 39 upon the part 34. The part 34*, upon which the shoulder is formed is narrower than the main body 34 so as to permit the arm 38 to stand normally in the opening beside it, as shown in Fig. 7. A thumb-piece 40 is attached to the lower end of the stud for actuating it. A wing 41 is rigidly attached to the lower part of the stud and is held in a normal position by means of a spring 42, better shown in Fig. 10. When the lever and bar are separated to propel the car, the arm 38 is forced by the spring 42 beneath the shoulder, as shown in Fig. 8, thereby locking the lever and bar and separating the wires until the lock is released by turning the thumb-piece 40, which permits the lever and bar to be brought together as shown in Fig. 4.

The feature just described is especially applicable to grade lines and is illustrated in Fig. 3, in which the lever 43 and bar 44 are shown to be separated, thereby holding the wires 45, 46, at such an angle to each other as to cushion the car 47 and prevent it from returning to the station with excessive force. When the car is very nearto the station the lock may be released by turning the thumb-piece 40.

It is quite important that the opposing wires should be maintained within the wheel-grooves when the car is at the station.

For this purpose I provide the following means: Loosely fitted within a bore 48, Fig. 4, in the bar 10, is a headed plunger 49, against a shoulder upon which is pressed a coiled spring 50 located within said bore. A pin 51 serves to hold the plunger in place. lVhen a car is at the station the plunger serves to press the levers 5 and bar 10 apart with sufiicient force to hold the wires firmly in the wheel-grooves, but its move ment is so slight as not to interfere with the action of the car.

In order to avoid noise which is liable to be caused by a continuous moving contact of the stretched wires when under tension I intertwine the wires upon which the car is mounted by wrapping or twisting them upon each other between the ends as shown at 52, Figs. 1 and 3. This may be done by merely overlapping one upon the other so as to form a partial convolution or one or more complete convolutions may be made.

This intertwining serves to eliminate noise without in any way interfering with the action of the device.

Care should be taken however, not to twist the wires upon each other to such an extent as to prevent them from slipping and thus confine the engaged part to one position when the wires are separated at one end. I have found in practice that a half turn of the wires upon each other is suflicient to prevent noise without interfering with the spreading of the wires inasmuch as the contacting portions are free to slide upon each other to enable the points of contact to move along in advance of the car up to a point very near to the opposite station when, on account of the acuteness of the angle they will cease to be moved fartherand the car will pass over the entwined portion to the station. This feature is a desirable one inasmuch as it eliminates noise and prevents the wires from becoming sticky from accumulations of oil and dust which occurs when they are not so entwined.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a store service apparatus of the class described, the combination of a way, comprising separable upper and lower carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels for engaging said Wires, corresponding levers, one at each end of the way, each lever being pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, the inner end of each lever being connected with said upper wire, said wire being drawn taut to normally hold said levers in substantial alinement with said wire, complementary bars, one of which has its outer end jointedly attached to the outer end of one of said levers while the other bar is connected in like manner to the opposite lever, the inner ends of said bars being connected to said lower wire to normally hold said bars substantially parallel with said levers and means for apply-i ing power to the inner end of either of said bars to separate said wires behind the car while increasing the tension of the upper wire.

2. Ina store service apparatus of the class described, the combination of a way comprising separable upper and lower carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels for engaging said wires, corresponding levers, one at each end of the way, each lever being pivoted between its middle and forward end to a stationary support, the inner end of each lever being connected with said upper wire, said wire being under the necessary tension to normally hold said levers in substantial alinement with said upper wire, complementary bars, one of which has its outer end jointedly attached to the outer end of one of said levers while the other bar is similarly connected to the outer end of the opposite lever, the inner ends of said bars being connected to said lower wire to normally hold said bars in substantial parallelism with said levers, said lower wire being under lesser tension than that of the upper one.

3. In a spread wire system, the combination of upper and lower opposing wires, a carrier mounted thereon having opposing wheels, the upper one of said wires being connected to the short ends of corresponding levers pivoted to stationary supports, the tension of said wire being such as to normally hold said levers in substantial alinem'ent with each other and with said wire, said lower wire having its ends attached to the free ends of bars the outer ends of which are jointedly connected to the ends of the long arms of said levers, said lower wire being under a lesser tension than that of the upper one, said bars being normally substantially parallel with said levers, and means for applying force to the forward end of either of said bars to separate it from the lever.

4. In a store service apparatus of the class described, the combination of a way comprising upper and lower carrier Wires and a car having upper and lower wheels for engaging said wires, corresponding levers, one at each end of the way, each lever being pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, the inner end of each lever being connected with said upper wire which is drawn taut to normally hold said levers in substantial alinement therewith, the pivotal point of each of said levers being below a line drawn between the pivotal points at its ends, complementary bars, one of which has its outer end jointedly at tached to the outer end of one of said levers while tne other bar is connected in like manner to the outer end of the opposite lever,

ing pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, the inner end of each lever being connected with said upper wire which is drawn taut to normally hold said levers in substantial alinement therewith, complementary bars, one of which has its outer end jointedly attached to the outer end of one of said levers while the other bar is connected in like manner to the outer end of the opposite lever, said lower wire being entwined or passed loosely over the upper one and its ends connected to the inner ends of said bars to hold them in substantial parallelism with said levers and means for applying a downward force to the inner end of either of said bars.

6. In a store service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels, of actuating elements for separating said wires, one consisting of a lever pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, the other comprising a bar jointedly connected at its rear end to the rear of said lever, the forward end of said lever being connected to the upper and that of said bar to the lower wire, and coacting guiding elements upon said actuating elements comprising a rigid curved arm extending from one of said element-s through an opening in the other in which it is slidably fitted, the curve of said guide forming an arc, the center of which is said jointed connection.

7. In a store-service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels, of actuating elements for separating said wires, one consisting of a lever pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, the other comprising a bar jointedly connected at its rear end to the rear end of said lever, the forward end of said lever being connected to the upper and that ofsaid bar to the lower wire, coacting guiding velements upon said actuating elements to guide them in a common plane when moved to and from each other, and means for temporarily locking them at an angle to each other when separated.

8. In a store-service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires ar ranged upon an upward grade from a station of a car having opposing wheels, actuating elements at said station for separating said wires comprising a lever pivoted between its ends to a stationary support, a

bar jointedly connected at its rear endto the a rear end of said lever, the forward end of said lever being connected to the upper'and that of said bar to the lower wire, and means connected with said actuating elements for locking them atan angle to each other when separated, to cushion the return of the car.

'9. In a store-service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels, of separating elements connected to said wires respectively at one end and hinged together at the other, and a spring-controlled plunger at the forward end of one of said elements for pressing against the forward end of the other to normally hold the meeting ends slightly apart with a yielding pressure.

10. In a store service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels, of a propelling bar and lever pivotally connected to said wires respectively at their forward ends while jointedly connected to each other at the rear, forwardly and laterally extended spring catches mounted upon the car, forwardly and laterally extended shields upon said propelling bar arranged obliquely to the vertical plane of the wires, shoulders at the inner ends of said shields to engage the forward ends of said catches, and a spring buffer located behind and in a plane between said catches.

11. In a store-service apparatus, the combination with separable carrier wires and a car having opposing wheels, of a propelling bar and lever pivotally connectedto said wires respectively at their forward ends while jointedly connected to each other at the rear, laterally movable spring catches upon said car, a spring buffer upon said bar having outwardly flaring wings to engage said catches, and a spring-controlled plunger upon said loufier for pressing against the end of the car to hold the catch elements in contact and prevent rattling.

12. In a store service apparatus, the combination with a car having opposingwheels, of a wire-way comprising separable wires inclined to the plane of the horizon, means at the lower end of said way for separating said/wires to propel the car, and means for locking said separating means to temporarily hold said wires separated for cushioning the return of the car at the lower end of the line.

13. In a store service apparatus, the combination with a car having opposing wheels, of separable carrier wires forming a way therefor, said wires being loosely intertwined between their ends to hold them in contact while permitting them to slip upon each other to enable the point of contact to shift in advance of the car when projected from a station, and means for alternately separating said wires at opposite stations.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses,-this thirtieth day of October EMANUEL G. GIPE. Witnesses:

D. H. FLETCHER, CARRIE E. JORDAN.

Copies of this patent may beobtained'for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. v 

